This is the next life, what now?
by Syolie
Summary: Au-ish It's the next life for Axel and the gang, but its not right without Roxas. Starting second year in college seems to be the same as ever until Axel spots something to make his new heart jump for joy. Yoai AkuRoku, Zemyx, other pairings
1. Chapter I

08/05/2009 05:43:00

Ok here goes on another new story. Pleas don't kill me! I just want to say that I do not own kingdom hearts and all the rights go to Disney and square and so on and so forth. Here's my new story, which I thought of when I played the games and the line, "See you in the next life". Here's my story.

This is the next life, what now?

Chapter 1 – What's new?

Darkness surrounded him, almost smothering.

Sad blue eyes looked at him, seeming to bore down into his very soul, he could feel the darkness around him.

"I'll see you in the next life…"

Axel bolted up from the bed. He'd had this dream before, always the same. He ran his hand over his face and checked the clock beside his bed, 7:00am flashed angrily at him. Then his senses rushed back to him, he could see the time more clearly, hear the harsh beeping from his alarm, felt his hands shake and then smelt a burning smell. He checked to make sure he hadn't set himself on fire again, all the times he woken up with a lighter in his hand, he shook his head trying to think. The acrid smell of something burning filled his nose, 'wait a minute', his eyes shot open and he leapt, clad only in his boxers from the bed to the door, wrenched it open and was faced with a miserable looking blonde and a pile of burnt toast on the kitchen table. The blonde looked around to see Axel and smiled sheepishly, running his hand through his dishevelled Mohawk/mullet.

"I was trying to make breakfast for a change cause you were fast asleep, I didn't want to wake you."

Axel laughed, "Dude, I thought the dorm was burning down, any way that's my job."

Demyx stood back from the counter and sighed as he swept the carbonised bread from the table to the bin, a mischievous grin came over his face, "What's your job, burning the dorm down or making breakfast?" He stumbled back; a pair of tongs was pointed at his face menacingly by the red head. "Both now either sit or go wake the others up." Demyx groaned, "Fine, but its your fault if they try to kill me."

"No, it will be their own fault if they kill you."

"Shut up and cook."

"Oi!"

Axel proceeded to chase Demyx, who was giggling excitedly, around the room armed with the tongs. Demyx had managed to dodge Axel for the fifth time when a heavy textbook hit him on the side of the head. He fell over, out cold. Axel stood and watched as a second blonde entered the room, walked over to the passed out Demyx, picked up the text book and sat at the table, she smiled at Axel, he flinched and scurried back to the stove.

"Nice and quiet, like a morning should be."

"I think you over did it Larx, if he doesn't come round soon you're helping me carry him to class."

"Pfft, first class of the new term, know what that means?"

"Another teacher to add to the many you've slept with?" He dodged the textbook and flipped the pancake he was working on.

"No, idiot, it means new freshmen…"

"For you to sleep with?" A pocket- knife barely missed his head; it trembled from its new home in the wall. Axel quickly served up the huge plate of pancakes to the table.

"Sorry did I say that aloud?" He tried to look innocent, "Silly me." Larxene looked ready to suffocate him with one of the pancakes when a sleepy voice spoke up.

"You know Larxy, you should be a little less noisy yourself in the morning." A pink haired man flopped into the seat next to the murderous blonde and wrapped an arm round her shoulder, he grabbed a pancake and started to chew, "I see Demyx is going to be late for his first class," he eyed the motionless mullet on the floor, "again, did you have to throw it so hard, we're already worried by his mental state."

"Humph" she crossed her arms, "Can't possibly get any worse than it already is." The pink haired teen leaned over and kissed her cheek lightly, he chuckled as she calmed down.

"Nnngh" The three at the table watched as Demyx stood up groaning using the table as support, he shook his head and blinked, "…OW!"

The trio laughed, "Talk about delayed reaction," chortled Axel.

"So not funny Larxene, why are you here anyway?"

"I came to pick up Marly, stupid, why else would I come near this pig sty."

"Ah, the harpy has returned, I see she hasn't stolen your soul yet Marluxia." The fourth habitant of the dorm had made his way to the table, a book in hand. Larxene snarled at him.

"Zexy!!" Demyx grabbed onto Zexion and hugged him, "Good morning to you too Demyx, did Larxene throw a textbook at you again?"

"U huh, kiss it better!" Demyx pouted. Zexion rolled his eyes as Demyx crouched slightly so Zexion could kiss the swelling in his head. Axel watched as Zexion continued to make sly comments about Larxene and how Demyx and Marluxia laughed. Axel suddenly felt lonely, everyone else had the person they loved most, and hell even Saix and Xenmas were together. Axel walked back to his room to change. He thought about his dream that was more like a memory, those sad blue eyes, and the golden hair. He never imagined that there would be a next life for him, but he had born to Sarah and Edward Sinclair, younger brother to Reno, it felt so weird, here he was in a new life but surrounded by old faces and more painfully, old memories that had come back to him steadily after he had joined college and met Demyx and Zexion again, then the others in time. Even Riku was here at this college, though they never spoke, old habits and all. He remembered the boy from his dream again, Roxas, who he had yet to find again, to be friends and more again. It felt as if life was against him, again. What he would give to see Roxas right now, he would give up his heart to do so. He was interrupted from his daydreaming when he felt a hand on his arm, he looked round to see Demyxs' worried face.

"Did you dream about him again?"

"Yeah." Axel looked down at his black boots and sighed.

"Don't worry Ax, you'll find him, like we all found each other."

"I love that optimistic thinking you have Dem, but I can't help and worry I'm never going to."

"He'll turn up when you least expect it, he always did the things we least expected him to do." Axel stared into the blondes' face his optimism was catching on.

Axel smiled crookedly at the blonde. "Well let's go get the first day over with then."

He strode out his room after Demyx and to the door where everyone else was waiting.

"Jeez take your sweet time Axel, no one else wants to get to class on time." Larxene rolled her eyes. It was quite normal for her to get irritated so early in the day. They walked down the hallway and into the light, Axel squinted as they walked across the lawn to the main building to gather their new timetables and check out team listings for the new term. Demyx checked the swim team notice and whooped in excitement, "YAS! I made it again third year in a row!"

"Well done Dem." Axel patted him on the back and wandered over to the timetables to look for his name. As he was looking over the names he spotted one that made his heart jump to his throat. 'Roxas Strife" His whole world froze, he saw the name, he read it again, it didn't change or disappear, it just sat, unhelpfully on the page. At that moment a bouncing mass on brown hair collided with him,

"Ah sorry, I didn't mean to do that, lost my balance, are you ok, hey Ax-?" The kid talked so fast, Axel looked up to glare at him. He felt his face go white, he was staring into familiar blue eye, but the hair was wrong, "So-" He was cut off when the boy was pulled upright and Axel looked into Rikus face.

"Sora watch where you bounce!"

"Sorry!"

Riku rolled his eyes, ignored the redhead still on the floor and grabbed his timetable. Sora searched for his name, found it, grabbed another 3 timetables from the table and ran after Riku.

Axel suddenly felt himself being pulled upright and Demyx shook him gently,

"Hey Ax, you ok?"

Axel couldn't speak; he just gaped at the space Sora had vacated.

"You look like you've seen a ghost, oh and that time you walked in on Larxene getting out the shower and the time you-" Axel placed his hand over Demyxs mouth, he collected himself and looked back to the table, Roxas's time table was gone. Demyx was still talking behind Axel's hand, "Dem shut up." He felt the movement stop and he turned wide-eyed to Demyx.

"Dem, I found Roxas's name on one of the timetables and just got knocked over by a very real Sora, I think I'm in shock."

Demyxs eyes went wide too, he pulled Axel's hand away from his mouth, a huge grin on his face.

"Dude, that means Roxas is here! Like here, he's not anywhere else! I told you you'd find him!"

Axel didn't answer; her grabbed his timetable and ran from the room to outside, barely aware of Demyx right behind him. He searched the courtyard looking for the blonde boy. His eyes zeroed in on Riku who was with Sora who was with an auburn haired girl who was with a blonde girl who to Axel's displeasure was holding a blonde boys hand, his blonde's hand. He stared at Roxas, his heart was in his mouth, and he just kept staring. Roxas was staring round the courtyard, not really interested, he frowned slightly at the 'Welcome To Twilight Town College!" banner. He looked away and straight into Axels eyes. Again Time stopped; Blue stared into green, sapphire and emerald, cerulean and jade. They would have stared for longer, maybe Axel might have run over and hugged the blonde if it hadn't been for Sora grabbing Roxas's other hand and dragging him off towards the freshman dorms, as soon as the eye contact had broken time started again, all the noise and colours that had disappeared returned, blinding and deafening Axel. He blinked. Roxas was gone, again. Demyx waved his hand in front of Axels face and laughed when Axel jumped and looked around to him his eyes full of alarm and confusion.

"Axel, you ok dude?"

Axel stared at him then a grin spread over his face, Demyx stepped back, he knew that smile ment trouble for someone, "Oh yeah Dem I'm ok, in fact I'm swell." Axel walked off towards his class not looking back at the terrified blonde. He laughed causing people to stare at him.

He felt like light had returned to his world, he felt lighter than he had in two years.

Roxas looked around his room as he dumped his bag on the bed. He'd unpack later, freshmen got the first day off to look around and get acquainted with the college atmosphere. He walked into the dorm rooms living area to see his three other roommates getting to know each other.

"And this is my best friend Roxas, who also happens to be my cousin!"

Roxas raised a hand in greeting, "Nice to meet you."

"Rox this is Hayner and Pence, they've lived in Twilight town their whole life."

The one Roxas assumed was Hayner stood up and offered his hand to Roxas, "Me and Pence will show you guys round town if you like" they shook hands, "Yeah that would be cool, though we should stop off the get Kairi and Namine too."

Sora bounced on his seat, "Yeah, oh apparently they're sharing a room with two girls Hayner and Pence know! Its so cool isn't it Rox!"

"Yeah I guess." He chuckled tiredly.

"They're sharing with our friend Olette and a girl called Fuu." After more discussions the boys set off and met with the girl called Olette and walked around the town, it wasn't as small as Destiny Islands had been but it was way nicer than Hollow Bastion had been when Roxas had visited his brother Cloud for a holiday.

They all walked back to the campus after having dinner in a small café that Olette had insisted on going to, it hadn't been that bad actually. Now full and tired out, the group wandered back across the front lawns back to the dorms. Roxas spotted the red haired boy he'd seen earlier that day, lazing on the grass with a blonde boy, a pink haired guy, one guy whose hair was silverfish like Rikus, a guy with an eye patch and a blonde girl with the weirdest hair cut Roxas had ever seen. He saw the red head was smoking and wrinkled his nose slightly as the wind blew the smoke in their direction. The blonde leaned over and whispered something in the red heads ear. Again they locked eye contact, but this time the red head got up and walked over to Roxas, smiling creepily, cigarette still hanging out his mouth. Roxas felt the niggling in his brain telling him this guy was familiar to him. The red head stopped two feet way from him; he took a drag and blew the smoke away from Roxas,

"Hey blondie, I'm just wondering if you happen to like what you see, cause you stare at me an awful lot." He winked. Roxas raised an eyebrow; "I hardly think catching eye contact twice constitutes as staring."

"Ah but you don't deny you were staring then." Axel countered.

"No, I wouldn't deny it when I was caught, I just thought you looked familiar."

Axel felt a happy glow coming from his heart, 'play it cool' he thought, he felt hopeful. "Do I still seem familiar?" Roxas raised both his eyebrows now and said, "Not so much close up, sorry for wasting you time." He turned to catch up to his friends who had stopped a little way away, he didn't turn when he herd the red head speak again, "The names Axel, got it memorised, blondie?" Roxas almost froze but kept walking, the name made his head hurt slightly. "Don't call me blondie." He half turned to glare at Axel,

"What is your name then blondie?" Axel grinned cheekily.

"Roxas," he turned around and continued walking, "Bye Axel". Axel couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of panic as Roxas walked away, the memory almost replaying it's self, until Roxas turned and smiled at him. Axel grinned and waved. He watched the boy catch up to his friends. He walked back over and flopped down next to Demyx on the grass, smiling dreamily up at the pink tinged sky.

"What was that about, chatting up freshmen Axel, that's a new low." Larxene smirked at him.

"I was just checking up on number thirteen over there." He grinned at her and watched as her eyes and everyone else's grew wide and snapped round to follow the retreating blonde. Demyx clapped his hands together and whooped, Zexion looking mildly interested looked back to Axel, "That was Roxas?" Axel nodded.

"He's taller than I remember, not by much though." Said Xigbar. What Marluxia said next almost burst Axels bubble of joy, "Well that's great you found him, but he wont remember anything will he, none of us did for a while, even after meeting up again, took like four months to remember didn't it." Axels face fell at this, he sat up and looked worried, Demyx put a hand n his shoulder and squeezed gently, "Well then here's a 'mission' for us! Operation get Roxas to remember so Axel can stop being all emo and mopy!" Axel growled at Demyx who scooted behind Zexion.

"I am not all emo and mopy!"

"Sure keep telling yourself that." Smirked Larxene. The group continued to pick on Axel till he threatened to burn them all to oblivion, they subtly changed subject and Axel cooled down.

Roxas was tossing in his sleep; his dreams were dark and confusing. The cloaked figure was breathing like he'd run a marathon, staring at Roxas as his round spiky weapons disappeared in a flurry of darkness, Roxas said something but he didn't hear himself. The cloaked figure started to dissolve into darkness as he said 'Silly, just because you have a next life." Roxas sat bolt upright, sweating, that dream just wouldn't go away, it confused him, but this time he swore he saw something red under the hood. He lay back on his bed and tried to calm down, he began to slip into a dreamless sleep, he stared at the broken alarm stuck at 8:13pm. 'I'll have to get that fixed' he thought lazily as sleep claimed him.

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Ahhhhh my god, why, why!!!!

Anyhoo, new story, I promise to update my other ones soon, RxR as usual, no pressure!

This story first came to me when I was playing the game then I listened to New Found Glory's version of Kiss me, it set the ball rolling.


	2. Chapter II

This is the next life, what now

Chapter 2

"Does he remember anything yet?"

Sora looked up from his burger into aqua marine eyes. He kept the eye contact as he tried to decipher what Riku ment. His blue eyes widened then he sighed and looked over to where Roxas and Namine sat in the shade of a tree.

"Nope, not yet, why?"

Riku sighed, "Axels getting excited." That one sentence made Sora wince; he and Riku had been friends for about 4 or 5 months before they 'remembered'. All those past events flooding back to him and Riku, all the feelings. That had happened back when they were 15 about 3 years ago. Sora hadn't been able to look at Roxas the same since. Kairi had remembered about the same time as Riku and Sora had and the trio hand inkling Namine was nearly remembering some things, if her pictures were anything to judge.

"You've been busy keeping Roxas away from Axel haven't you?" Sora sighed.

Riku fidgeted, he took Sora had dropping the pen he'd been writing his physics essay with. "Roxas is eh a bit fragile, the memories would hurt him a lot."

Sora rolled his eyes, "Since when do you care about Roxas?"

"Since he's your cousin now and you love him, it would hurt him and in turn hurt you."

"Ri, you're so considerate, in your own way."

Riku chuckled and returned to his essay, "What are you writing about Ri?" Sora asked.

"Dark matter and other physics stuff you wouldn't understand."

"Hey! Just cause I didn't take some fancy science course doesn't mean Im stupid."

"You said it I didn't." Riku chuckled, he put his arm round Sore and kissed his neck.

"Lovely as it is that you two lovebirds are content the rest of don't want to sit through your PDA." The two boys looked up to see Kairi, Olette, Hayner and Pence join the table, "Hey guys," Sora detached himself from Riku, "how was class?"

"God don't get me started, Prof Kenson is a total ass, right Olette, man he just wont get off my back!" Hayner fumed.

"Actually Hayner, if you didn't play games when you were supposed to be working he probably wouldn't 'be on your back'." Olette sighed, taking a stab at her salad.

"Riiiight, eh what about you Kai?"

Kairi flicked her hair and smiled, "Class was good, I got a great start to my project." She took a bite from her roll, "Oh by the way, I'll need you and Roxas to model for me, my theme is two halves of one whole."

Sora gulped, he felt suddenly very cold, "Ri-right, Pence?"

"Class was good, I'm so glad I took the Hospitality course here." Pence smiled. The group carried on talking and comparing classes and teachers.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Roxas sat with his back leaning against his twins in the shade of the tree; he was starting his first assignment, sketching rough pictures of people sitting in the courtyard for the body shapes. Namine hummed as she painted.

"Hey Nam, what theme did you choose for your project?"

"Colours." She said matter-of-factly.

"Colours?" Roxas asked incredulously.

"Yeah, a colour, link it to some one via portrait and explore what the colour signifies, the teacher said it was alright to do."

"Oh, that's good." Roxas stooped his sketching to look over at the table where his cousin and the others sat, laughing and talking happily. He scrunched up his nose as his stomach rumbled and he heard Namine laugh quietly.

"Come on Rox, let's go get lunch." She stood up and extended a pale hand to her brother. Roxas took her and stood up. They walked hand in hand into the cafeteria and stood in line in silence for a while, "What theme did you choose?" Roxas studied Namines face for a second then shrugged, "Haven't decided yet, been too busy with my music piece."

Namine laughed, "Trust you to take two courses, lucky they let you do them in the same year." She smiled at her twin, Roxas sniffed and pretended to look hurt, "I couldn't choose which to do, anyway I have enough time to do both courses and pass, and you know me, Im just amazing."

"Your ego is pretty amazing too Rox." Namine laughed. Roxas pouted. They walked away from the food line. Roxas holding the tray with their food and Namine hooked her arm around Roxas's. Namine felt an angry glare fixed at the back of her head, she winced slightly and turned to see the angry face of Axel, she tightened her hold on Roxas's arm and ducked her head. She had no idea why the red head was glaring so viciously at her but it was unnerving,

"What's up Nam?" Roxas asked.

"No, its nothing, lets just go outside to the others." She tugged his arm and dragged him through the open doors; she didn't want to be in the same room as that red head, he'd looked so fierce, as they sat down at the table she smiled at Kairi who offered her a French fry. She nibbled on it and turned to look at Roxas who was in a heated conversation with Hayner about whether a Gibson was better than a Les Paul. She smiled more warmly and leaned slightly on her brother's arm. Roxas wrapped it round her shoulder and squeezed gently, then dropped it holding her hand. Out the corner of his eye he saw a flash of red.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Axel was happily complaining to his friends about how he'd never get Roxas to remember if that stupid blonde girl didn't let go of him for one second. Then on cue Roxas and Namine walked into the cafeteria holding hands. Axel felt himself fume staring at the hands of the two blondes.

"Chill Ax."

Axel shot a glare at Marluxia who recoiled slightly.

"Well they're free to hold hands with who they want," Axel turned his glare on Demyx who continued, "I mean it's s free country, " he didn't notice his ever imminent doom, "They could go out and there's nothing you could do-" Zexion slapped his hand over his boyfriends mouth trying to save his soul from burning for eternity.

"What Demyx means is, they will probably continue to hold hands until some one does something," Zexion stared pointedly at Axel, "instead of getting angry at an innocent girl for holding a boys hand."

Axel turned his gaze on Zexion, not quite glaring more calculating. "Well I would do something if that girl and Riku weren't always in the way, I swear Riku is getting on my nerves always butting in when I get Roxas alone."

Xigbar spoke up this time, "He's probably doing it for Sora more than anything else, and those two seem to have their memories."

"Humph"

All his planning, time spent he couldn't get back devising a way to get alone with Roxas and 'help' him remember. He'd been waiting for Roxas for like 2 years and he wasn't going to wait any longer because of a blonde bimbo and Soras whipped sidekick.

He watched as Roxas and Namine, he ground his teeth at that name, walked from the queue; Roxas carrying the laden tray and the blonde girl had her arm around Roxas's own. Axel glared at the back of her head. She turned after a minute and looked straight at Axel, he saw her eyes widen slightly and watched her wince. He felt an angry satisfaction at this. She turned around and dragged Roxas from the room. When they were gone he tried to bore wholes into the table with his knife. He ground his teeth when he heard Larxene say, "Ohhhh, Axey poo is jealous!" She giggled shrilly in her seat. Axel suddenly stood up, toppling his chair over and stalking away muttering, "I gotta get to class." The others watched him go, Larxene still giggling. Demyx stared worriedly after his friend, "His class doesn't start for another 20 minutes."

"He knows that Dem." Sighed Zexion lifting his gaze from his book; he watched as the red head disappeared through the door to the courtyard, "He just needs to give it time." He returned his eyes to his book, his hand in Demyxs.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

As Axel stormed into the courtyard his eyes zeroed in on the blonde boy, he gritted his teeth when he saw the 2 blondes holding hands, he was about to turn his head when he caught Roxas staring at him, the blonde boy smiled and nodded at Axel. He felt his heart soar; he waved at Roxas who smiled wider at the red head. As the red head walked over to the doors that lead towards the Chemistry rooms he heard a voice calling after him, he turned as he opened the door, holding it open for the boy behind him.

"Hey Axel!"

Axel's breath caught as he saw Roxas jogging towards him, "Hey, man you walk pretty fast."

"Hah yeah sorry," he scratched the back of his head, "Was there something you wanted?"

Roxas smiled up at Axel, "Yeah, I decided you were slightly familiar."

Axel stood dumfounded for a second then smirked, "Really?"

"Yeah and I was thinking, me and Sora are going back to Soras place on Destiny Islands for the holiday next week and his parents will be away so we're having friends over, barbeques and bonfires and stuff." Axel watched as Roxas's eyes became bright with excitement, "And anyway, I was hoping to invite some you and Demyx and your friends, cause Demyx talks about you guys a lot and I well, want to see if you're all as great as he says you are."

Axel was stunned, "Wait, how do you know Demyx?"

"We're in the same music class and I recognised him from earlier and we got talking, clicked right away you know?"

"Yeah" Axel felt miffed his suppose best friend had been talking to Roxas and never told him. "Well how about you come hang out with me and the guys, see whether you like them, then invite 'em, as long its ok with everyone."

Roxas grinned, "Yeah I asked Sora and he said he was cool with it as long as you guys didn't cause trouble."

Axel faked being shocked, "Trouble? Us? Im offended Rox."

Roxas laughed, oh how Axel loved that sound, "Yeah I'll think about it, you sure your girlfriend wouldn't mind us?"

Roxas looked puzzled for a second, "Girlfriend?"

Axel nodded, "Yeah what's her name, eh, Namine?"

Roxas looked disgusted, "Dude, that's wrong, she's my twin sister!"

Axel was shocked this time, "Your sister?"

"Yeah, how else would you explain how we look identical?" Roxas laughed, getting over his disgust.

"Oh, OH, god sorry Roxas, I thought she was your girlfriend, man that thought never crossed my mind, wow twins." Axel laughed.

"Why did you think that?" Roxas cocked his head to the side and pouted, did he know how hard it was for Axel not to jump him then and there.

"Well your always together and holding hands and stuff." Axel's cheeks were tinged pink, he felt stupid for some reason.

Roxas blinked, "I never thought it would look that way to anyone, it's just natural for us you know, being twins and that, sorry for the misunderstanding."

Axel raised his hands and shook his head, "No, no im sorry, I thought before asking, my bad Rox."

Roxas grinned again, "Well that's all, I'll see you around, and soon I hope." He began walking away back outside.

"Yeah, we'll meet up soon, wait Rox!"

"Huh?" Roxas turned.

"Swap cell numbers, so I can get in touch for when to meet up." Axel beamed at his genius idea; he'd congratulate himself later.

"Yeah sure." They swapped phones and entered their numbers then passed their phones back. "See you around Axel." Roxas waved.

"See ya!" Axel called to Roxas's retreating form; he waved lazily at the red head half turning. Axel was unfocused for the rest of the day, nearly blowing up the chemistry lab and nearly burning down his dorm while cooking dinner. He didn't care, Roxas had invited him to his cousin's place, he wasn't going out with Namine and he was talking to him! He hadn't felt this god in a long time. Not even Larxene's annoying voice could ruin this high he was on. It was only when he spotted the mullet hawked boy walk into the room did his happiness start wavering. He pounced pinning Demyx to the floor.

"Heyyy Demy boy."

"Eh hi Axel, what do you want."

"Answers Demy boy."

"Axel your smile is creeping me out, what do you want to know?"

Axel leaned down till there were nose to nose; he noted Demyx smelled like Chlorine. "I want to know why you never told me you and Rox were best chums."

Demyx gulped, "Must've slipped my mind."

"Slipped your mind?"

"Ye-yeah, but don't be mad, I was the one that said to invite you to Soras place!" Axel backed away but still pinning Demyx to the floor. "Hmm I may forgive your lapse of judgement if you don something for me."

"D-do what?" Demyx stammered.

Axel tapped his chin in fake wonder "Well, you have to help the other get rid of Riku for a bit so I can ask Roxas to hang out, and you have to keep him out the way."

"That's all?" Demyx raised an eyebrow.

"If you don't keep him out the way you have to be my chem. Lab partner for a month!"

"Consider it done!"

Axel laughed as he got off of Demyx, dusting himself off he returned to making the dinner.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Roxas was just settling into bed when his phone vibrated on his bedside table. He looked at the I.D. and saw the words 'Sex God'; he was confused till he read the message.

Night Rox, have greats dreams about me. Xx

Roxas smirked and sent back,

I'll try not to have nightmares Axel, night x

He switched his phones alarm on and set it back on the table, staring at it, waiting for it to vibrate again, it didn't and soon Roxas was asleep, snoring lightly.

Across the campus the red head was grinning at the text Roxas had sent in return, he closed his phone and slumped back on bed. He smiled at his ceiling until he dropped off to sleep, hoping to dream about a certain blonde boy.

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Well there's chapter 2, hope you enjoyed it. Took me forever to write it since my writers block has become a new flat mate.

No worries I will be updating my other stories soon, and till next time!

Syolie.


	3. Chapter III

This is the next life, what now?

Chapter 3

It had been 3 days since he had spoken to Roxas; he hadn't had much contact except through text messages. It wasn't enough. Axel growled, which made some people in the hall jump in surprise. They quickly entered their rooms when they saw axel storming in their direction, one boy was sure he saw a dark aura around the red haired boy. Axel continued to make his way moodily down the hall to his dorm. He made a mental note to burn Riku the next time he saw him, he seemed to be working double time making sure Roxas was never alone with Axel. He kicked his dorm room door open and felt quite satisfied at the loud bang it made when it connected with the already battered wall. He walked past the two blonde boys on the couch, they stopped what they were doing and watched him walk past.

"Hey Ax, guess who- " Demyx started to say but was cut off when Axel shut his door loudly, "se here." He finished lamely. He turned to the other blonde,

"Eh sorry about him, he's been grouchy for a few days now."

The smaller blonde nodded, he had a half shocked, half amused look on his face, "Any idea why?"

Demyx swallowed and looked at his friend's door, then back to Roxas who was writing on notes and practiced the tune.

"Yes, but he would kill me if I said anything." Demyx chuckled.

Roxas smiled and rolled his eyes, "Don't worry about it, Sora gets like that too, real scary too."

The two blondes laughed. They carried on working for a few more minutes chatting easily, until they heard a crashing noise behind the red heads door. The door in question opened and the red head walked out calmly, smelling slightly of burnt paper. He ran his hand through his hair and headed for the kitchen, he stopped and did a double take when he saw who was on the couch with Demyx. He squeaked, rather uncharacteristicly for him and ran back into his room. He shut the door and slid down, back against the door to sit on the floor. He could hear the muffled voices through his door. He dragged a hand down his face, he stood up and straightened his t-shirt and ran his hand through his wild hair. He opened his door again and walked out more calmly, he smiled at the blondes on the couch shyly,

"Hey, I didn't see you there." His face heated up slightly, 'God I'm so stupid.'

"Well I doubt you could see anything through that red haze Ax," Demyx chuckled.

Axel smiled at Demyx, his teeth bared. He turned to see Roxas grinning at the older boys, he caught Roxas's eye and the blonde boy winked. Axel felt his face heat up a bit more.

"So what are you here for Roxas?" Axel asked, sitting on the couch opposite the two blondes.

"Well, Dem and me are working on a composition for our duet, the teacher said it would be easier for us to work together since we both have other things to do."

Axel nodded, pretending to know what Roxas had just said, "Right cause Dem has his swimming," Demyx smiled and nodded, Axel continued, "What club do you have then?" He asked.

"No club, I took two courses, Art graphics and music."

Axel whistled, "Two courses, you sure you can keep up with it?"

Roxas shrugged, "I have to, though after this year I'm going to chose which course to take for honours and stuff."

Demyx laughed, "Rox, you could probably take both all the way, your smart enough!"

Roxas punched Demyxs arm, "Sh'up."

The trio continued to 'work' and talk for about an hour until 5 people walked into the room and Demyx leaped from his seat to tackle a smaller periwinkle haired boy to the floor, the others walked around the mass on the floor and settled down on the couches, a tall blonde man and another with an eye patch had to drag over chairs from the kitchen area. The blonde man sat on his chair straddling it and leaning his chin on the backrest, the other sat the usual way but had his feet propped on the coffee table. Axel saw that Roxas felt a bit uncomfortable with the sudden appearance of new and quite scary people in the room, he cleared his throat.

"Guys this is Roxas," the chatter died as they stared at the blonde boy, he smiled nervously and Axel continued the introductions,

"Rox, this is Xigbar, Luxord, Marluxia and Larxene and the boy under Demyx is Zexion." Axel had pointed to each person in turn and watched as they each greeted the boy, he shook hands with everyone and lastly Zexion who had managed to escape from Demyxs grasp.

They had sat in the same places for a few hours as the group chatted, asking Roxas questions, they all seemed to be getting along, even Larxene seemed to be getting along with Roxas. Axel sat, talking at points but he was lost in thought. Roxas was definitely different, he smiled a whole lot more, he was happy and outgoing when he was comfortable. He was quite different from the Roxas he remembered, dark, quiet, moody, anti social, he felt a pang of worry that maybe Roxas had changed too much, maybe, even if hew did remember he wouldn't want to be with Axel anymore. The red head pushed that thought to the back of his head, he would make sure Roxas would want him. He hadn't waited the remainder of his last life and almost twenty years of this life for nothing. He came sharply back to reality when Marluxia pinched him quite hard.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"Dude you were spacing out," Demyx laughed, "We thought we were losing you."

The group continued talking and stopped when they heard someone knock on the door, Demyx got up and answered it; he didn't open the door wide enough to allow the person to see in, they all froze when they heard Demyx speak in a surprised tone,

"Oh hey Riku, what do you want?"

They heard Rikus deep voice answer, "You wouldn't happen to know where Roxas is?"

Demyx shook his head, "No sorry Riku."

"Well his room mate, Hayner, say he was over here working with you." Demyx took a step back and looked into the room with wide eyes and said, "Well if he is here now we don't know, he could be off _hiding_ in the court yard or something."

Axel had got up and pulled Roxas from the couch and into his room, taking Demyxs advice to hide, he kept the door open a little so they could hear what was going on. It seemed Riku had walked into the room, they watched as Demyx sat on the couch in Roxas's place.

Axel was smiling; he turned to see Roxas had a mirror image of his expression on his face. It was then that Axel noticed how close they were. He felt the blood rush to his face.

They watched as Riku walked farther into the room and stood with his arms crossed, eyes sweeping the room, Roxas drew back slightly behind Axel when Rikus eyes looked over to their hiding spot. Axel let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, that had been too close, in both situations.

"Are you sure he's not here, that's his note book on the table." Riku reached for the notebook.

Axel felt Roxas still and utter a low oath under his breath; Demyx though, was on a roll.

"He left it here so I could patch up any mistakes, since we are doing a duet, we both need to use each others skills." Demyx took the notebook from the table and set it on his lap and stared at Riku as if daring him to try and take it now. Riku leaned back and surveyed the room again, "And you're sure he's not here.."

Demyx cut him off, "I am."

"Then I'll try the courtyard then." He nodded and turned and walked out the room, the door clicking shut behind him. Roxas sagged and leaned his fore head on Axels back and sighed in relief. Axel stiffened and struggled to relax as Roxas remained there for a second longer, he looked Axel in they eye and grinned.

"Close one."

Axel nodded dumbly, "Yeah."

They came out from their hiding place and sat back down.

"Sorry about that, Riku just takes looking after me too far." Roxas sighed again.

Larxene snorted, "Like a guard dog, you should just tell him to get lost."

Roxas nodded, a smile on his lips, "Tried that, I've been hiding from him in the corridors too." The others laughed and made guard dog jokes, the tension in the room soon disappeared.

They soon changed the subject and continued on with their discussion. They all laughed when Demyxs stomach growled and the mull-hawk boy went red. The group waited as Axel cooked for 8 people.

It was around 11pm when Roxas noticed the time, he grabbed his notes and guitar and said goodbyes to his new friends and left smiling and waving. Axel flopped down in the couch between Demyx and Xigbar; he leaned his head back and let out a tired sigh. Demyx nudged him and grinned at his red haired friend. Axel grinned back, "Well that was an eventful evening."

Xigbar snorted, "Who knew Riku would still be a pain in the ass." The others agreed in tired grunts or nods.

Xigbar, Luxord and Larxene left not long after leaving the four roommates in a comfortable silence. Demyx was half asleep with his head on Zexion's lap, Zexion was reading a new book and running his fingers through his boyfriends' hair. Marluxia had gotten up and wandered into his bedroom talking to Larxene on the phone. Axel shut his eyes and sighed again, he got up saying goodnight to the duo on the couch and went to bed. He lay there for a few minutes smiling at the ceiling. He felt his phone buzz,

'_Hey, thanks for tonight, I had fun._

_Rox'_

Axel smiled and replied,

'_No problem, you can come over when ever you want,'_

The reply came back quickly,

'_You sure, would everyone else be ok with that?"_

He rolled his eyes,

'_The guys liked you, even Larxene was nice and man does Dem love you!'_

The reply took a little longer.

'_Really? Well I am amazing, hehe. Expect me around a bit cause Sora gets to be too much at times.'_

Axel laughed,

'_Really really. Well the place seems to be your hide out already.'_

The next reply caught Axel off guard.

'_Tell the guys they're all invited to Soras. Riku isn't too pleased for some reason, have you guys fought before or something?'_

Axel grimaced.

'_Something like that, nothing to worry about, I'll tell the guys, thanks, sweet dreams Rox.'_

'_Cool, thanks again, night Axel.'_

Axel shut off his phone after the last message; his alarm clock blinked 12:09. He cursed quietly and rolled over to go to sleep.

_Axel was in a white room, with white furniture and a girl in a white dress. The only colour in the room came from him, the girls colourings and the pictures stuck to the walls. Little flecks of colour in a white universe. Everything was too clean and bright, almost blinding. They stood staring at each other, the girl smiled sadly._

"_He's not ready Axel, he's not whole yet."_

"_He was never whole to begin with."_

"_You have to wait, give him time to-"_

"_I don't have more time, I need him to remember now!"_

"_Axel, he might never remember what you want him to remember."_

"_I wont let that happen,"_

"_Axel,"_

"_I need him to!"_

"_Patience, _

"…"

"_He's not ready," _

"_When though!"_

"_Soon," _

"_Fine."_

"_Let him grow some more."_

_Through out the entire conversation neither had moved, not even their lips, they just stood at the opposite ends of the long white table, Axel glaring at the blonde girl and Namine smiling sadly back. The room and the girl started to blur and fade out of focus and Axel was left standing in the middle of blackness. It was a stark contrast to the brightness of the white room. He couldn't make out any shapes in the blackness but he had the earie feeling he could see the black moving, every so often he'd see a flash of yellow in the blackness. It started to constrict and move in. He was suffocating in the darkness. _

His eyes snapped open and he couldn't see anything, he struggled and he couldn't move. He heard laughing from his doorway.

"Here, seriously dude, I could hear you tossing about last night."

"Shut up and get me out of this."

"Sure sure."

When he was free of his murderous covers he saw Demyx sitting on the floor next to his bed staring at him.

"Bad dream?"

Axel shook his head, "No, not bad just, strange."

"What was it about?" Demyx stared at him, slight worry lines creasing his face.

"I was in this white room with Namine."

"Namine?!"

"Yeah she kept say, he's not ready and I dunno, I felt pretty pissed, strange thing is its not a memory." He sighed, shutting his eyes. He opened them again to stare at the alarm. He had 15 minutes before his alarm went off.

"We'll talk later, I got to get to swim practice." Demyx stood and walked out the room, throwing a worried look at his friend. Axel rolled his eyes. He got up and showered. He relaxed under the stream of boiling water, it didn't seem too hot to him at all.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Demyx sat looking at the paper in front of him, willing an epiphany to come. Some sort of idea, anything at all would do. Why couldn't he think of anything!

"Demyx are you ok?"

He looked up to see Roxas peering at him with an amused expression on his face.

"What, yeah I ok, just can't think of anything for the composers essay."

"Really?"

Demyx looked up again from the damned piece of paper. "I guess your not having any trouble then."

"Not really." He smiled at the elder apologetically.

Demyx sighed, his pen tapping the paper; Roxas rummaged in his bag and brought out his Ipod. He waved it in front of a confused Demyx.

"You do have an Ipod yes?"

Demyx nodded and brought his own from his pocket and stared at Roxas, waiting for further instruction. Roxas smiled and shook his head in exasperation.

"Dem on your Ipod is music you like, and that music has a composer."

Demyx now wore a surprised expression on his face, his mouth in a silent 'oh' shape.

"So I should take my favourite bands and write my essay on the composers of those bands." He looked excited by the very thought, "I can't believe I didn't think of that, thanks Roxas." He smiled down at his younger friend; he expression froze then fell slightly when he saw the far away look in Roxas's glassy eyes. 'He's remembering something,' then Demyx realised what memory Roxas might be remembering.

_/Flashback/_

_Demyx was panting hard, it was so annoying he couldn't get it right, he slammed his fist to the ground, "Damn it!"_

"_Easy Dem, you'll get it."_

_Demyx sat back and stared at Roxas, "But it's not working, I have no idea why it isn't!"_

_Roxas looked thoughtful and sat down next to Demyx, he looked across the training room, they sat in silence for a while then,_

"_Ok so you only have a limited amount of power to make water cones, yes?"_

"_Yes." Demyx wasn't quite sure what was going on in Roxas's mind._

"_And you always make the same number each time, around 12 all with low level of power?"_

"_Yes." Demyx was going red now._

"_Ok, all you have to do is make the number of water clones smaller and then they'll have more power behind them and they'll last longer."_

_Demyx had the silent 'oh' expression on his face,_

"_So less number of water clones, each has more power," He began to look excited._

"_Wow I can't believe I didn't think of that, thanks Roxie!"_

_He hugged the smaller blonde and leapt up to practice, a bright grin plastered on his face._

_/end of Flash back/_

Demyx touched Roxas's shoulder and the blonde jumped and looked around wide-eyed.

"You ok Rox?"

"Ye-yeah, im fine just blacked out for a second there.

Demyx smiled at Roxas, his expression slightly confused.

'He's trying to block it out.'

They sat silently through their music class, when the teacher announced it was time to go both boys had gotten a good head start on their essay. As they walked out the door Demyx stopped when he realised Roxas was walking in the opposite direction, "Hey Roxas, you not coming over tonight?"

Roxas turned, he shook his head, "Nah can't, and I promised Olette I'd take her out tonight." He was smiling brightly. Demyx stood there stunned, "A _date_?" Roxas grinned "Maybe, maybe not", Demyx smiled politely and nodded, "See you tomorrow then." He waved and trudged back to his dorm room.

When he opened the door, he saw Axel alone on the couch, glasses balanced on his nose as he read from the textbook and wrote on notes. He looked up and smiled at Demyx.

"Hey Dem, Roxas not coming over today?"

"Eh no, he's busy today." Demyx scratched the back of his head and slumped down on the couch opposite Axel. Axel stared at Demyx, his look was calculating, he took his glasses off and lay them down on his textbook, "What's up Demyx?"

"Rox said he was taking his friend Olette out tonight." Demyx looked up to see Axel looking calm almost emotionless, but the tight grip he had on his pen showed he was controlling himself the best he could, "That's….nice."

"Axel you seem tense." Demyx was watching the hand that was gripping the pen, he watched as his grip lessened and he laid the pen on the table,

"Yeah, what am I supposed to do Dem?"

"Maybe a little bit of flirting wouldn't be bad?"

"He'd run a mile Dem!"

Demyx smiled and rolled his eyes, "Ax trust me he wouldn't."

Axel looked at Demyx, "What do you know that I don't?"

"Well Roxas did trust me not to say anything but,"

"Buuuut?" Axel prompted, his face eager.

"He's thinking he may be attracted to guys too, I mean as well as girls."

Axel leaned back, he suddenly grinned, "So he thinks he's bi?"

Demyx nodded, "So he wouldn't be totally adverse to a little flirting, he does look at you strangely, you may have a chance."

Axel snorted, "May, I mean who can resist me." He smirked, it faltered a bit, "Still Olette may pose a problem, and she's going to Soras next week isn't she."

"Yeah, although,"

"What are you thinking Dem," Axel looked wary.

"Roxs friend Pence, I have a feeling he has feelings for Olette, he certainly follows her around a lot, looks at her all goo goo eyes."

"Fancy playing match maker Dem?" Axel looked slightly evil with the wide grin on his face.

"Yeah, lets have some fun with the freshmen." They grinned at each other.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Well that's it for this chapter!

Took ages to work out how this could all possibly work out.

I'm also having trouble whom to pair Namine up with. I can't leave her alone! Kairi too for that matter hmmmmm, ideas from my readers would be appreciated!

Well till next time

Syolie.


	4. Chapter IV

Chapter IV

"I love you!"

Roxas bolted up straight, his chest heaving and heart thundering in his chest. He clutched his hand over his heart and tried to breath slowly to calm him self, those words ringing in his head. He'd dreamt of dark hallways, he was running, to where he didn't know and to what, or from what? He looked over at his alarm still stuck on 8:13 am. He checked his phone and saw it was actually already noon. He put his phone on the night stand and put his face in his hands, he felt cold sweat on his forehead, he could feel a headache coming on, he scrunched up his eyes, opening them when the first peak of pain shot through his head. He looked at his hands to find them covered with black gloves, he was wearing a black leather trench coat. He quickly wrenched open his drawer of the night stand and took out the bottle of pills, shaking 2 from the bottle as his heart started to speed up, he was shaking badly. The bottle dropped from his hands and pills spilled onto the floor rolling everywhere. He curled up into a ball and moaned in pain, clutching his head.

Sora had been in the kitchen area talking to Pence and Hayner when he heard the moaning coming from Roxas's room. He dropped his spoon and darted to the closed door, he pulled it open and ran to Roxas's side. Pence and Hayner stood at the door eyes wide with worry.

"Shit, Roxas talk to me, did it happen again?"

All Sora got for an answer was a pained groan from the blond, he looked over the side of the bed to see the spilt pills, he grabbed two that had fallen on the bed and shouted to the boys at the door,

"Get me a glass of water, hurry!"

Pence returned seconds later with the glass and handed it to Sora.

"Come on Roxas, I need you to take the pills, come on."

He managed with Hayners help to pry the blonde's arms from his head and forced the pills into Roxas mouth, Sora massaged his throat as he poured a little water into his cousins' mouth to help the pills go down. Roxas choked, but swallowed.

"What's wrong with him Sora?"

Sora looked over at Hayner then to Pence, he shook his head, "It's not up to me to tell you, it's up to Roxas."

The two boys shared a worried glance and left the room leaving Sora to hold Roxas as he started to fall asleep again, he looked down at his cousin.

"Why does it have to be so much harder for you Rox?"

Axel walked out of his chemistry class at 2 o'clock; he smiled as he walked down the corridors and through the courtyard to the music building to meet Demyx and Roxas. He passed by Namine who was sitting alone at a lunch table sketching; he did a double take and walked back over to her.

"Hey Namine, you not waiting for Roxas today?"

Namine looked up and smiled sadly, she shook her head, "Roxas didn't go to class today, Sora called me to say Roxas was taking the day off today."

Axel cocked his head to the side, "Is something wrong with him?"

Namine stared at Axel with a half concerned and half thoughtful look, "He had a rough night, he needs time, that's all."

Axel stiffened at what she said, he forced him self to relax, "Well why don't you come with me to get Demyx and we'll go see how he's doing, ok?"

Namine smiled and nodded, "Ok."

They walked in silence until Namine spoke, " Why are you being civil towards me now?"

Axel choked and searched for an appropriate answer, but Namine got there first.

"Is it because you found out me and Roxas were twins and in fact not dating?"

Axel looked at her and nodded dumbly, she laughed quietly, "Roxas told me, there are no secrets between twins after all."

Axel was about respond when he heard someone call to him,

"Hey Axel!"

Axel turned to see Xigbar jogging towards him.

"Hi Xigbar, you physics class over then?"

Xigbar nodded then looked at Namine then back to Axel,

"Oh, Xig this is Namine, Roxas' twin, Namine this is my friend Xigbar."

Xigbar raised a hand in greeting and said, "Yo."

Namine smiled, "Hello, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet ya too."

Axel watched the two interact, he noticed. Namine had the barest tint of pink to her cheeks. He rolled his eyes.

By the time they reached the Demyx's room he was standing outside waiting for them.

"What took you so long Ax?"

Axel sighed dramatically and said, "Well first I had to save a Kingdom from invading evil doers then picked up Namine then we scaled mountains and found Xigbar meditating and he tagged along then we got lost because the space time continuum went all screwy making up down and etc, so we had to fix that, then we finally got here."

Demyx stared at his as Xigbar and Namine chuckled in the background.

"You had me till you said Xigbar was meditating, now that's a freaking paradox." Xigbar swiftly swated the blond musician on the back of the head, Axel rolled his eyes again.

"We're off to visit Roxas, to see how he's doing," Namine told him, "He had a bad night."

The group then started in the direction of the first year dorms, Axel and Demyx taking the lead and Xigbar and Namine walking behind deep in conversation.

Demyx nudged Axel, "Dude, I'm scared."

Axel looked at him, "Why?"

"Xigbars' being nice, he's being nice to some one outside our group."

"So?"

"Dude its freaky!"

"Dem, you think putting butter on a sandwich is freaky."

"Do NOT!"

Axel laughed at his friend as they reached the dorm and held the door open for the other three.

"Now this brings back memories, first year dorms, good times." Xigbar grinned.

Namine giggled and started walking for the stair case, "Come on, he's on the third floor."

They walked up the stairs telling Namine the stories from their first year, when the reached the third floor, they walked to a door with a brass 5 on it, Namine knocked, "Roxas it's me and your friends, can we come in?"

They got no response; Namine knocked again, no answer. "Ah well." She tried the handle and found the door unlocked, she walked in with the boys following her in. The living/kitchen area was empty, "You guys sit and I'll get Roxas." They all sat as Namine walked to her brothers' door, she knocked and entered. She found Roxas asleep on his bed in nothing but a towel, his hair damp for a shower taken not long ago. She looked around his semi messy room and rolled her eyes. Shaking his shoulder she spoke, "Hey Rox, wake up." Blearily blue eyes opened, he blinked and looked at his sister.

"Nami?"

"Hey sleepy head, we came to see how you were feeling."

"We?"

"Me, Axel, Demyx and Xigbar."

"Oh."

She waited and watched with a small smile as he sat up straight all sleep gone from his eyes. "Ah right, well gimme a second to get changed," he rubbed his eyes and gave a small yawn.

"Ok." She stood up and started back to the door when Roxas stopped her.

"Pence left my clean washing over by the door when he came back to check on me, can you get it for me and he left some food in the fridge."

Namine looked at her twin for a second then nodded.

Axel looked up as Namine entered the room and walked to the door, she picked up a bag and took it to Roxas's room, the door opened to show the blond boy standing in nothing but a blue towel round his hips, he saluted to the boys on the couch, "Yo." He took the bag from his sister and closed the door with a muffled "Thanks".

Namine giggled when she saw the slight blush creep over Axels face,

"So you do like Roxas then." She smiled knowingly at the red head; Axel blinked at her and scowled as Demyx started to laugh.

Roxas entered the living room fully clothed, towelling his hair to see Namine and Xigbar laughing as Axel chased Demyx round the room. He started laughing when Demyx tripped also causing Axel to trip so they landed in a heap on the floor. Axel jumped up and straightened his top when he heard Roxas laughing, he grinned sheepishly at the blond. As Roxas' laughter died down Axel strode over to stand in front to the blond boy,

"You feeling better?" he asked.

Roxas nodded and walked round the red head to fall back on the couch, "Yeah, just didn't get enough sleep last night."

They all sat for a while talking, Demyx told Roxas the work he had missed.

"So Roxas how did you date with Olette go?" Demyx asked.

Roxas took a sip of his drink then answered, unaware of the gaze Axel had on him.

"It wasn't a date, she was asking me about whether Pence might want to go out with her."

"So you took her out for dinner?" Namine cocked an eyebrow.

"She asked if I would so I could tell her she was a good date."

Everyone stared at him, "What?"

"That is the most stupid thing I have ever heard and I know Demyx." Axel said.

"Ye- HEY, dude that's mean!"

Everyone laughed.

The door to the room opened and Riku walked in, he stopped and stared at Axel. His face hardened, he turned to Roxas,

"Roxas, Sora told me to come and check up on you."

"Oh, thanks Riku." Roxas said.

"You're looking tired, maybe you should go to bed, and your friends should leave too."

"No it's ok, I'm not that bad-"

Riku cut him off, "Sora's been worrying, if you don't rest up now you wont be ready for tomorrow."

Roxas frowned slightly, "Riku it's fine, and I'll be fine tomorrow."

Riku was about to speak when Axel cut across him, "Riku, juts leave it, if Roxas says he's fine, he's fine."

"And how would you know Axel?"

Axel smirked at the teen, "I think I know Roxas a bit better than you Ri-ku."

Riku growled and started forward and Axel stood. They faced each other, Riku angry and Axel smug. Just as Riku tensed his fist he was hit in the head by a notebook, startled he looked towards the three still seated.

Namine picked up another notebook from the table and held it threateningly in one hand; she didn't throw it but hit Axel on the head with it.

"Knock it off you two," she turned to Riku, "I'd trust Roxas's word and if he says he's fine he is," she turned to Axel, "and you don't rile up Riku, that would leave me and Roxas tending to a sulking Sora."

Riku, stared then grunted, he turned and left the room slamming the door. Demyx giggled, "That's the first time I've seen Riku give up without a fight." He laughed. Namine looked innocently at them and smiled, "It's a woman's prerogative."

Roxas leaned back and smiled, "That's why you never anger a woman." Namine rolled her eyes, smiling she sat back down next to Xigbar,

"So are you all coming to Sora's for the holiday then?"

Axel spoke up first, "Course, like I'd miss a chance to have a BBQ! Oh and seeing Roxas too yanno."

Roxas snorted, "That's nice, playing second fiddle to a barbeque."

"Ahh Roxie I didn't mean it" he leaned over and hugged the blonde who blushed a little. Roxas rolled his eyes at the red heads antics and patted him on the head.

"I'll be there and so will Zexy!" cheered Demyx.

"I know me and Luxord are coming, think Marly and Larx are too." Said Xigbar.

"Awesome, I got Hayner, Pence and Olette to come as well, of course Kairi is going to be there and Riku is inviting Seifer."

Demyx looked at Roxas with wide eyes, "Why would he invite Seifer? He's an asshole."

"They're friends, plus Seifer said yes as soon as he heard Hayner was gonna be there." Roxas smirked. Axel's eyebrows shot up,

"Don't tell me he has a thing for the kid."

Roxas nodded laughing, "Hayner hates his guts, they're always fighting, it's only because Seifer insults him when he means to be 'nice', its funny and sad at the same time."

The three elder teens stared at each other in shock. Namine giggled again "Even if Seifer was nice to him, Hayner would probably think he was making fun of him, he's so oblivious."

Demyx looked between the twins with a horrified look, Axel and Xigbar chose to laugh it off, Axel more nervously and Xigbar more raucous

The next day Roxas sat in his art class facing a blank canvas. He was deep in thought. Namine sat next her twin and watched him sit there motionless, paintbrush tapping against his leg as he faced the canvas not really seeing anything. She watched as his eyes brightened and he dipped the brush into the water then the paints, she smiled and continued with her painting happy that Roxas had made a start.

When they had packed up Namine took a look at Roxas's painting. She stood frozen as she stared at the picture wide eyed. Castle Oblivion and a heart shaped moon were present and very much identical to all the memories she had of them. She jumped when Roxas nudged her,

"What's wrong Nami?"

"Wha- eh nothing, it's very good Rox." She said gesturing at the painting.

"Yeah, I dreamt about it, I'm not sure I like it though." He looked over the painting then nudged Namine again, "Come on lets go get lunch."

"Ok then."

Axel groaned. He forced his eyes open. It was currently 2 am and his phone was ringing. He growled, who ever thought it was funny to wake him up at 2 in the freaking morning was gonna be nought but ash when he was done with them. He grabbed the red mobile from under his pillow and ignoring the caller ID answered the phone,

"What!"

"Ax-Axel, I-I'm sorry."

"Oh Rox sorry, what's wrong?"

"Co-could you let me in please?"

"Let you in. …What?"

"I-I'm outside you dorm door, c-can you let me in please."

"Oh yeah, I'll be right there."

Axel hung up and slid out of bed, when he opened the dorm door he found Roxas curled up against the wall next to the door, shivering. His eyes widened in alarm, he bent down and put his hand on Roxas's knee, the younger boy flinched then saw who it was flung his arms around Axels' neck. Said red head was surprised but quickly wound his arms around the blonds back and rubbed it soothingly.

"Hey, hey what's wrong Rox?"

"I had a- I woke up and I didn't know what to do, I just felt had to see you, I cant sleep, I keep seeing them."

"Seeing who?" Axel stood picking up the blond bridal style and walked back into the dorm room, he set Roxas down on the couch but the blond refused to let go of him.

"I don't know, people in black, they keep following me, watching me-" he was starting to sound hysterical, Axel just hugged him tighter and hushed him.

"It was just a dream."

"I'm sorry I woke you up, it's just, I d-dunno, something in my head just told me to get to you."

"Well you got here, your fine, ok." Axel rubbed Roxas's back until he felt the younger boys breathing even out as he fell asleep. What Roxas had described to him sounded like when he was first brought to the organisation, Roxas would come to Axel when he couldn't sleep or had a nightmare, he felt hope bloom in his chest, Roxas was remembering, maybe not consciously but his mind was rebooting so to speak. Roxas had loosened his hold on Axel and he laid his down and covered him with a blanket, thank god it was Friday, well Saturday now. He'd get him back to his dorm later when he had slept, Axel bent down and kissed Roxas gently on the forehead and pushed his bangs off his face. He smiled calmly at the sleeping teen, "Night Rox."

As Axel shut his door a smile crossed Roxas's face as he slept.

AN: Finally, this chapter took me ages, too much uni work. I am sorry for taking so long, and I am going to be updating more stories soon hopefully.

RxR please


	5. Chapter V

We're all going on a mid term holiday!!

You know how it goes.

Chapter V

He felt someone shaking him, "C'mon Rox, wake up."

He batted at the hand on his shoulder, "Fuck off, gimme a few more hours."

He heard laughing and cracked his eyes, wincing at the bright light that blinded him, he let the hand get him into a sitting position and he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. No sooner had he opened his eyes fully was he thrown backwards with a face full of sandy blonde hair and a deafening squeal. "Ahh, he soooo cute when he's half awake, can we keep him Ax, please, please!"

Roxas heard an irritated sigh and the mull-hawked boy was wrenched off him, he sat up again and stared around the room feeling confused.

"How'd I get here?"

He felt someone sit down behind him and he turned to see Axel grinning, he turned so he was sitting on the couch with his feet touching the cold floor, which gave him a shock.

"You came here remember?"

Roxas looked at him with a perplexed face, "I did?"

"Yeah phoned me at 2 in the morning asking if I could let you in."

Roxas scrunched up his nose (in a way Axel could only call cute) as he tried to remember. Flashes of dark corridors and strange rooms interrupted his train of thought. He shook his head and looked back up, "Yeah, sorry I'm not really all here in the morning."

Axel laughed, "Don't worry about it, we've had to put up with Dem all these years."

"Hey!" The three boys laughed at the pouting blonde.

"Well Rox you hungry?" The red head pushed off the couch. He headed for the kitchen area. Roxas got up and followed the read head. He was seated at the small table and a plate of pancakes put down in front of him, "We've got berry stuff, jam, syrup, sugar but no butter, lanky over there ate it all," he pointed to Demyx who pouted at Axel, "He doesn't put it on sandwiches but loads it onto his pancakes."

Roxas laughed and grabbed the syrup and flooded his plate. The others watched and then looked at each other, Axel grinned at them. Roxas would always flood his plate with syrup when he had pancakes. They all sat down and talked about the upcoming holiday which started on Monday as Roxas had breakfast and Demyx had seconds.

--

After finishing his breakfast Roxas stood and excused himself, he looked down at his attire and frowned,

"I'm just going to phone Sora and ask him to bring some clothes over for me, kay."

"Sure thing." Axel said as he cleared away the dishes from the table. Roxas smirked, "You're a proper little house wife aren't you."

Axel blushed and scowled at the blonde as he, Demyx and Zexion laughed at him.

"Yeah, he's gonna make one guy very happy in the future." Demyx sniggered.

Roxas cocked his head to the side, "Guy?" he looked to Axel, "Are you gay?"

Axel straightened up and stared at the blond boy who was holding his phone halfway through typing in a number, staring back with his impossibly blue eyes, "Yeah", 'Only for you' he thought in his head. "Is that a problem?" He grinned down at the blond boy. Roxas shook his head and smiled back, "Nope, what ever makes a person happy isn't another person business, unless it's like illegal or something."

"You very open minded Roxas." Zexion pointed out from Demyxs' lap. Roxas finished typing the phone number in and pressed the connect button, "Better than being scared of everything." He shrugged. "Oh hey Sora, SORA, dear god, SORA WAKE UP."

There was a slight pause, a happy voice sounded tired.

"Yes now we have you in the land of the living,"

He was interrupted by the cheerful yet confused voice on the other end.

"I'm phoning you since I'm over at Axels…Yeah I paid a late night visit."

Happy voice sounded even more confused.

"Yeah well, shit happens right, look I need you to bring some of my over some clean clothes for me to change into."

Happy voice sounded less confused now.

"Yes I need boxers, I'm in my night stuff."

Happy stuff sounds more surprised now.

"We don't all sleep commando like you Sora."

Happy voice sounds indignant.

"Yeah, yeah, just get over here please."

Happy voice sounds teasing.

"Axel made pancakes and there's plenty of syrup."

There's silence the Happy voice sounds serious.

"Yeah his dorms in the Cait building 4th floor room 8/C."

Happy voice sounds happy…and hangs up.

The other three sat though out the entire conversation staring in varying levels of amusement.

"Well you better have some pancake mix left or you'll have a pouting Sora on your hands." Roxas grinned over at Axel who rolled his eyes and went to work with the pan, "Well I'd better get busy, we might have to deal with an angry Riku if Sora pouts."

They all sat having a slow conversation until the door was nearly knocked off its hinges as Sora barged into the room, "Here's your clothes Rox, now where are the pancakes!"

Roxas rolled his eyes and looked into the bag his cousin had thrown at him and nodded in approval, he absentmindedly answered Soras' plea, "Axels making them, don't break anything." He stared at his cousin who just ignored him as his plate was put down in front of him and he dug in. Roxas rolled his eyes and stalked off to Axel's room to change. As soon as the door clicked shut he put his fork down and stared at the three elders at the table. "You all look the same, maybe a bit older."

The trio looked at each other then Zexion spoke, "You do have your memories then."

"Yeah, Riku and Kairi as well and Namine is getting there."

"Explains some stuff, like how Kairi reacts to us." Demyx mused.

Sora turned to Axel; "It was a bit of a shock when I ran into you on the first day."

"Yeah." The red head was staring at him warily.

"Look I know Roxas is remembering quite slowly but don't push him, it puts strain on him." Sora looked back at the close door then back to the red head, "I'm not as up tight as Riku and I want Roxas to remember, the times back then when I felt him in the back of my head feeling so sad because he never got to say so many things and other stuff," a slight blush came across his face. "Her did eventually like fade but you know, it's not fair he never got to say…that to you." Sora looked down at the pancake he was stabbing. Axel stared at Sora with wide eyes then turned to look at Demyx and Zexion. They looked back to the brunette as he spoke again, smiling brightly at them, "So I'm trusting you guys to make sure Roxas is ok when he remembers everything and if you don't you'll have to deal with Riku." He grinned cheekily at them and started eating his pancakes again. Axels door opened and Roxas came out dressed, towelling his hair.

"Hope you don't mind I used your shower Axel." He rested the towel round his neck and stole one of Soras' pancakes, laughing as Sora launched himself at his cousin, the trio still at the table laughed.

"Come on Rox, we have plans for today remember, Hayner was gonna show us the skate park!" Sora jumped about excitedly.

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming." He shoved Sora towards the door, he turned to Axel, "Thanks for last night, see you Sunday."

Axel watched the blond boy go out the door and disappear. Demyx slouched down on the couch, "That was interesting huh."

Axel just threw his head back and laughed, scaring the other two present.

* * *

"Thanks for agreeing to do this Xigbar, it's a really helpful to me." Namine smiled up at the taller man then back down to her sketchbook.

"Yeah, s'cool, ya said you'd find a colour to match me or summat,"

Xigbar scratched the back of his head, chuckling at the small blond girl before him.

"Yes I did, you want to know what I chose then?" She smiled at him then quickly averted her eyes.

"Yeah," he said more enthusiastically than he meant, "Um I mean if it's ok with you 'course."

"Of course," she searched through her note pad looking for a practice sketches, finding her colour pallet sheet she took it out and looked over it, "The colour I thought that went best was this one." She held up the pallet and he saw she was pointing to a royal purple colour. He smiled slightly, that was the same colour as his arrow-guns were.

"Ah like it."

"Really?" Her blue eyes distracted him for a second before he nodded.

"S'a good colour."

The blond girl smiled and returned to her drawing, the eye-patch wearing man sat as still as he could for her.

* * *

Roxas was frustrated. Hayner had promised to show him the skate park and were immediately accosted by Seifer. Can't a guy skate in relative peace anymore.

"What you doing here chicken wuss." Seifer sneered at the blond boy.

"Well it's kinda obvious isn't you ass." Hayner said holding a skateboard in the taller boys face. "This is a skate park after all."

Seifer smirked, "I bet you can't even use that thing, you're only trying to show off to your boyfriend here." He jerked his thumb at Roxas who rolled his eyes and kicked off, skating towards the half pipe.

"For your information he's not my boyfriend, ass and I can too skate!"

"Oh yeah?" Seifer smirked again, he loved getting this boy all worked up, and he watched as Hayner flipped him off and skated away, noticing how Hayner didn't reject being called gay. He had to drag his eyes away from the blonds rear, cutting of any perverted thoughts he was having.

"Don't go crying when you fall flat on your face chicken wuss!" He called after the boy.

"FUCK YOU!"

Seifer smirked at this; he turned to leave thinking 'I will be.' His thoughts were halted when Roxas appeared in front of him smiling slightly.

"You gotta be careful about where and when you stare at his ass, Seifer, you don't want him catching you," the bond started to skate off, he turned his head, "yet." He waved and skated off to Hayner.

Seifer couldn't help the shocked look that came over his face; he shook his head and left the park.

"Busted."

He looked round to Fuu who was as stoic as ever. He then turned to Rai who was barely holding back his laughter.

"Shut up you idiots." Seifer grumbled.

The two blonds looked over when they heard loud laughter at the park entrance, they saw Seifer punching Rai in the head, and they rolled their eyes.

* * *

Kairi was running along one of the mathematics department corridors looking for the supply closet. She came to a halt at the end of the corridor and looked at the other hallways leading left and right. "Damn." She began to back up and stumbled as she hit into something solid. She closed her eyes as she waited to crash into the floor. It didn't come, she felt warm appendages around her waist, and she opened her eyes to see to slightly muscled arms around her waist. She was hoisted upright and the arms moved so hands replaced them on her waist to help her get her balance. She blushed. The hands left her and she turned to see a tall teen with short blond hair and a heavily pierced ears, he smiled at her, "You should watch where your going missy, don't want to have any accidents." He winked, "Any reason to your hurrying?"

Kairi stood there gaping for a second, "Yeah, I em, I'm looking for a supply closet, I need a ruler, a big one!"

"Lucky for you, I'm heading there myself, follow me." He pointed down the left hallway and walked on; she stood there gaping for a second then started to follow. She felt very confused and hell if she knew why.

"I'm Luxord, by the way." The blond grinned over his shoulder at her.

Kairi scowled, Luxord, number X, "I didn't ask for your name."

He laughed and turned to her, his hand on a door handle, "I just thought you'd want to know the name of your rescuer." Kairi sent him a baleful look.

"Yeah rescuer, right, what about the time your 'organisation' kidnapped me?"

Luxord raised an eyebrow, "Ah, so you do remember, well my apologies missy, but that was the last life and you can hardly blame us, Xemnas isn't exactly sane, plus wasn't it Marluxia who kidnapped you?"

Kairi bristled, "Blame you! You made our lives hell for like a year of our lives and what does it matter who kidnapped me, your all the same anyway!"

"Not purposefully and I will thank you very much if you don't put me in the same boat as flower boy, which big ruler do you need."

"Hah, purposefully, I could hardly tell anyone apart in those coats, a metre one please."

The blond handed the frowning red head the metre stick smiling all the while, "There ya go Kairi."

She snatched it and started to stalk off, Luxord rolled his eyes and grabbed a scientific calculator and followed after her, smirking. "Need any help there missy?"

Kairi turned on him and pointed the ruler at him threateningly, "And why would I need your help?"

"I don't know, just a feeling, a gamble even you don't know where your going.'

Kairi frowned and looked around her, all these corridors looked the same, Luxord smiled and held his arm out to her, "Need escorting to the exit missy?"

Kairi glared at him, "Just show me the way, don't try and act all nice to me."

Luxord rolled his eyes and pointed back down the corridor, "This way if you please." They walked in silence, Kairi walking behind the taller boy and blush of embarrassment on her face.

"You in the arts department then." Luxords' voice disrupted the silence.

"Uh, yeah," she looked at him suspiciously, "How did you know?"

"I've seen some of your stuff on the walls, pretty good stuff too." He didn't turn, Kairi was glad of this as her blush worsened, "Thanks I guess." She said as they reached the exit which lead straight into the art department, Luxord held the door open for her, "Anything for a pretty lady."

The red head rolled her eyes and couldn't help a small smile, a very small smile, as she walked through the door a though hit her,

"Why are you here on a Saturday?"

Luxord scratched his chin, "Well seein as Rox invited me to his cousins place for the next week I thought I'd get some work done, what about you?" He smiled down at her.

"Yeah, same, wait, your coming to Soras' place too?" She sounded slightly shocked.

"Aw don't be shocked missy, me and Rox are friends you know, I'll speak to ya on Sunday too, so don't go missing me Kairi." He grinned and winked as he walked off leaving the stunned girl behind.

"How do you know I wont just ignore you the time!" She called after him.

"I'm taking a gamble on that one missy and I was the Gambler of Fate." He waved lazily and walked round a corner. Kairi stared after him, "Whatever" she said to her self as she turned and walked into her department, she felt irritated and the teensy teensiest bit excited.

* * *

Sora was bouncing around the dorm room like a squirrel on a sugar high. "Yes, we're going home tomorrow, beaches, games, bbqs, the ocean, oh how I've missed my ocean1" He continued to bounce around in excitement at the thought of spending the week on his home island. Pence turned to Roxas, "Is he always this excited about going home?"

Roxas looked up from his bag that he was checking to make sure he had packed everything and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, he lives for the warm climate, I think its just an excuse to wear nothing but swim shorts all day."

Pence laughed, "I've never been to destiny Islands, what's it like?"

Roxas sat back and looked to the ceiling, "Well its small but its not like boring or anything and its warm and kinda tropical looking I guess, they have enough shops and stuff around and plus its like great for tourism but we'll be hanging around out at Soras place and going to the island me, Sora, Kairi and Riku played on as kids, you'll meet some of our friends when we get there too."

Hayner who'd been sitting playing with his phone looked up, "I thought you and Sora were cousins but its sounds like your family live there too."

Roxas shook his head, "Nah, my mum and dad are always travelling and didn't think it would be good for kids to have to move all the time so we lived with Sora and my aunt and uncle, though for a while before that me and Nam used to live in Hollow Bastion with my brother Cloud ad his wife Tifa."

Hayner looked wide eyed at Roxas, "Your brothers married, how old is he?"

Roxas watched as Sora came down from his high and slumped on the couch. "Well mum and dad had cloud early on, then eight years later they had me and Nami."

"Eight years?"

"Yeah, their worked kept them busy I guess."

Pence and Hayner shared a glance. "That's a big age gap." Pence said.

The blond shrugged, "Its never been a problem for us, I guess we were lucky to have him cause my parents left us with him, he had to grow up fast, it wasn't really fair you know."

Pence spoke up, "What do they do?"

"WELL" it looked like Sora had bounced back, "Cloud has a delivery service and Tifa owns a bar, they're awesome." Roxas laughed at his cousin, "Yeah they are, and Cloud has this awesome motorbike he uses for his job, he used to give us rides on it all the time."

Sora nodded happily, "He would always go too fast though, scared the bejeeses outta me."

The boys laughed, "Well that's cause you're a big pansy Sor."

"AM NOT!"

Sora leapt at Roxas and they began to wrestle on the ground. Hayner and Pence shook their heads and went off to pack their bags for the trip.

--

A while later when the cousins had stopped fighting, the four had sat down to eat and discuss what they would be doing for the next week.

Roxas was busy texting at the same time,

'Guys remember to meet at the train station at 8 am so we can get the train for D.I., Remember to pack for a week of beach weather!'

He pressed send to all everyone invited except for the people in the room with him.

* * *

Axel looked at his phone and grinned and looked over at his bag. "All ready!" He set his alarm and Demyxs for 7 am so they had time to wake up. He passed the sandy blond his alarm, "Dem don't sleep in, if I miss a week on the beach with Roxas in only swim trunks I will kill you then burn your remains so no one will know what happened!"

Demyx nodded mutely knowing that was a real threat, Axel smiled evilly and went back into his room. His clock said it was now half 10. "Ahhh, might as well sleep now if I have to get up so god damned early." He got changed and got into bed, "Jeeze its weird to go to bed this early." He leaned over the side of his bed ad grabbed his laptop, starting it up.

"The things I do for love." He shook his head and started up a game, readying himself for the computerised slaughter that would hopefully tire him out.

* * *

AN: Ah finally finished this chapter, I'm glad I used this to show the different relationships I have planned, and thanks to those who asked me to make a Kai/Nam, sorry its not what I'm doing but you did give me a very good idea for the next chapter(s).

Hope you enjoyed this instalment, and until next time!

Syolie

xx


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